It has been brought to my attention....

That the link I had for Kaylee's birthday pictures wasn't working. Just in case anyone else wanted to see them and couldn't the link has been fixed. You can either scroll down or look on the left side of your screen under August and click Kaylee's Birthday pictures to see them :)

"Mommy! You're Here!"

My baby started preschool today! I have been so excited about this all summer long but when the moment actually came that I had to turn and leave her in that class room I wondered what in the world I was thinking! She is my BABY! Of course I know she will be fine and she will love every minute of it, for me it is hard to think that she is growing up. She went in and sat at the table and started on a puzzle, I took a few pictures and then gave her a kiss and told her I was leaving. She gave me a quick hand wave and said "Bye Mom" and that was it. She was instantly transformed into a big girl. She is growing up so quickly! She peed in the potty this morning twice before school started and she must have went at school as well because she came home dry with all of her pull ups still in her backpack.

This morning before we left I packed her backpack with all of the things she needed for the day, her rest towel and her pink blanket to sleep with, a change of clothes just in case and her pull ups and wipes. I got all of that stuff in and just looked at it trying to figure out how in the world I was going to fit her lunch box and folder in as well. After some rearranging I managed to get the lunch box in and told her she would have to carry her folder. I helped her get it onto her back and as soon as I let go she tumbled backwards because the thing was too heavy!LOL It was so funny! Luckily they get to leave their towels at school so we wont have to do that everyday!!! They almost kept her pink blanket too, thank the Lord that I realized we were missing that, or tonight would have been a nightmare! Her teachers are Ms. Nikki and Ms. Kelly and they said that she did really good today and was 1 of only 3 kids who fell asleep at nap time! They had a little birthday party for the August birthdays (there are a ton in her class) so she was really excited that she got to have another bday party! When I got there the kids were all wearing conductor hats and standing on the carpet looking at books. I had to say her name twice before she finally saw me and when she did she ran to me and gave me a hug and said "Mommy! You're Here!" She had a great day and loves her new school. I am glad that I decided to put her in this year but I definitely miss not having her with me. I am sure I will find plenty to do in my free time though ;-) Enjoy the pics of her first day. Click Here

Sick Girls

I have some sick kiddos the past few days. Mykenzie had a fever Tuesday night for about 3 hours and it went away so she went to school Wednesday. Then Wednesday Kaylee got a fever, it ended up peaking at 103.4 Wednesday night and by the time I got it to break Mykenzie started running a fever again!!!! UGG So Kaylee's went away and never came back but Mykenzie's lasted until Saturday, so no school for her Thursday and Friday. They both went to the doctor Friday and Mykenzie just had a virus and Kaylee's croup is back (she just had it on the 9th). So Mykenzie is better and is back to school, Kaylee is on nebulizer treatments as well as an oral steroid and she is doing so much better now, so unless there is a big change she will go ahead and be able to attend her first day of preschool tomorrow! We are going to meet her teacher tonight.

Whew!

I tell ya, I have had a busy month! I am a stay at home mom so my life generally isn't go go go all the time. Between birthdays and school starting, school shopping, kids being sick, my air conditioner breaking, nights out with my girl friends and just everyday stuff I need a rest! lol I can't figure out how working moms do it!

Mykenzie had a sleepover last night with Barbara's girls. This is the first time she has had any friends stay over and she was so excited! They all seemed to have a really good time. We watched High School Musical 2, yeah baby! Well I kinda watched they ran and jumped and danced! lol It was fun though. We were up till 11:15 playing board games and then I sent them off to bed where they quickly fell asleep :) Mykenzie was a grouch today due to lack of sleep for the week, but she had a bday party for one of her friends from girl scouts to go to, so there was no rest for her. It was at one of the places where you paint your own pottery. She had a good time painting her horse and playing with the kids.

Tomorrow we are gonna get up and go to the pool before it gets too hot (it was 112 degrees according to my car today) and then it is a day of REST!!! I'd skip the pool and stay in my pj's if I could but they have been begging to go to the pool so I suppose we should take them. Next week I don't have alot planned but I am sure that will quickly change and the following week begins my freedom! Oh yeah, my baby gets to go to MDO (mom's day out) Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have so many things I want to do during those hours, go to the gym, read, work on my scrapbooks, hang out with friends, do my shopping in peace, help out at Mykenzie's school, ect. ect. I just don't think I will have enough hours to get it all done. I have to take advantage though, my years of staying at home are quickly coming to an end. AHHHH

Now it is almost 9pm and I am old so I am gonna go read myself to sleep! :) Good Night

Bummer

Well I am finished. I have finally caught up with the Stephanie Plum series and now and am suffering from withdrawls! lol I have a ton of authors that I want to check out between now and next summer when #14 comes out, but I am still sad that I am done with Stephanie for now :) If anyone out there has suggestions on books I'd be happy to hear them. I don't want sad stuff right now. I am not in the mood to be sad. I want light hearted funny books that leave me feeling happy :) Bring them on people.

Look at me!

I am on a roll! 4 posts in two days! Woo Hoo Plus I finished #12 of the Stephanie Plum series and am half way through Plum Lovin'. My house on the other hand looks like a tornado went through it and if you want something clean to wear, uh yeah just forget about it! I'll do it eventually

Out of the mouth of a 3 year old

So Mykenzie and Kaylee were fighting the other day over a toy (BIG SURPRISE) and Kaylee has a pretty big temper, she looks at Mykenzie and starts wagging her finger at her shouting "This is ridiculous sissy! You give me that Right now! This is ridiculous!" I was laughing so hard hearing her say the word ridiculous to yell at Mykenzie.
She looks sweet and innocent and sometimes she is. We went and picked Mykenzie up from her first FULL day of school and we pulled into the garage and Kaylee looked at her and said, "I'm so glad you back sissy" It was so sweet and I think it made Mykenzie's day. Nice to know they like each other with all the fighting that has been going on these days :)

Yes, that is what it says!!!

For those of you asking about the shirt I am wearing in the picture, this is what it looks like...




Pretty much sums up my feelings

Awesome Weekend and First Day of School

I had such a great weekend! I guess it was making up for my week being completely ruined by my kids getting sick! Friday night I went to Meredith's house for Bunco. We had a great turn out and we had such a great time that we ended up staying till about 1:30am! All the money that we pay to play was counted at the end of the night and our total was $200!! All of that money is for the Jurgens family so it is awesome!

Saturday morning was time for Rascal Flatts ticket buying mode. Chandra, Barbara and I were all poised at our computers and ready to go. I was the first one in and my seats were section 118 Row EE, Chandra was next and hers were section 208!!! So we hurried and bought the ones that I had. Once the transaction was complete we of course kept searching, we really weren't finding anything better, until Travis got on and he found us section 114 (which is right by the stage)seats are a little higher up than the others but still we'd be closer. So we bought those too! Now I have 8 tickets to the concert and have to sell 4 of them!!! Wish me luck, or call me if you are interested. They were $311.50 for 4 tickets :)


After that was finished we all went to Opry Mills to pick up some last minute back to school stuff, I finally found Mykenzie some tennis shoes and I got myself a pair of black shoes that Travis HATES! He hasn't been liking any of the shoes I've been bringing home! lol I like them, so that's too bad I suppose. I also racked up at The Children's Place! I got Kaylee 6 shirts (2 of them long sleeve), Mykenzie got 2 shirts and 2 pairs of jeans and my total was $78 but after my coupons I only paid $48!!! She let me stack coupons, I have no idea if she was allowed to or not but I really don't think so, but hey I'll take it!!!

Sunday we went and had lunch and then went to Mykenzie's open house at her school. This is her new school that literally just got finished Friday! It is beautiful on the outside! The inside is super nice. They have huge flat screens in each class room. Her class has 6 new Mac. computers and MP3 players (not sure why). There is so much space in there it is amazing! The school she has been at was so small and this one is just wonderful in comparison. The library is gorgeous too, it doesn't look like it belongs in a elementary school! We got to meet her teacher. She actually called on Friday to talk to Mykenzie and let her know who she was. She seems really nice so hopefully we have a great year. She is older though and we haven't had an older teacher yet so I wonder how different it will be. There are only a couple of kids that she knows so she was a bit nervous going into class today.
Our morning went pretty well for us considering we really haven't gotten up and gotten moving that early all summer. Kaylee was horribly whiny but she is fine now. I walked her in to school today cause there was no way she would have remembered which way to go. I was gonna do carpool line tomorrow but I think I will walk her in tomorrow as well. I forgot to take pictures this morning!! She was pretty happy I left my camera at home though once we got to school. I may just bring it tomorrow though! lol I will at least get a pic in front of the house. Now we are gonna find something to do to pass the next couple of hours till we go pick Mykenzie up. It is only a half day today so we don't have long. Tomorrow I will take Kaylee and do something fun since Mykenzie will be in school all day long.

Kaylee's Birthday Pictures

Here are some pictures from Kaylee's birthday :) Click Here

Happy Birthday to Kaylee

Today is Kaylee's 3rd birthday! I can't believe she is this big already!! She had a great day starting with daddy going to get her donuts for breakfast! After eating she opened all of her gifts. She got a Leapster and some games and a few other little toys. We all got ready and headed out to Chuck E Cheese, where she got a crown and balloon which was very exciting for a 3 year old! We all enjoyed playing all the new games they have and ended up blowing through 230 tokens!!! Yikes! We got over 1400 tickets though and Kaylee got to pick some cool prizes. We headed to Walmart to pick up the cake we ordered and came home and sung happy birthday, and Kaylee joined in on singing to her! lol Then it was time to eat cake and play! We were going to go to the pool but it is too hot out to even go swimming!! She had a wonderful day, and on Wednesday she will get to celebrate again with some friends! I will upload pictures and post them soon.

What do you think?

I finally upgraded to the new blogger and decided that since I lost all my info anyhow I may as well change the look. I hope everyone likes it. Just felt like it was time for a change. Please notice that to the left hand side you can find all of the links to anything concerning the Light the Night walk. There is a link you can follow to make a donation directly to Jenna's husband and children or there are links to donate to Light the Night and to sponsor me in the walk. I forgot to mention in my last Light the Night post that if you are in need of renewing a magazine or just wanted to subscribe to a new one if you do it through the link on your left 40% of the proceeds go to our teams fundraising efforts for the Light the Night walk. There is also a Thank you section to shout out to those who have already donated. Let me know what you think of the new look :)

One Month

I am not sure how but I have managed to survive this month. I can not believe that a month has already gone by since we lost Jenna. Things are ever so slightly easier than they were and I know that it will get even easier with time but I wish we could fast forward to then. Lately I have found that I am angry more than anything. Angry that a wonderful person who would have done anything to live is gone and so many horrible people will live on to an old age. Angry that this wonderful mother who fought with every ounce of her strength to stay alive for her children is gone but I know people who now are speaking of suicide and not appreciating their life at all. Why would God take Jenna rather than one of them?? Angry with anyone who says or does something that seems the slightest bit insensitive. I know that people don't mean to do and say things that are hurtful but that is how they come across when your heart is already hurting so much. Angry with people for moving on with their lives, it is so hard to see that life is moving forward without her. I have been saying that I am still in denial and I am happy there. I can take myself to a place in my mind that allows me to just pretend for a little while. Unfortunately I am finding out the hard way that I am reliving losing her and experiencing that horrible pain that I felt the day that she left us, over and over again every time something happens to snap me back into reality. I am trying to find a way to stay here now rather than in my fantasy world but I am telling you, my fantasy is much better.

Barbara and I spent the entire day together today, we thought that it would be better if we weren't spending the day alone with our thoughts. We talked and laughed and cried about Jenna as we always do when we are all together, but today especially it was nice to have someone to talk to. I am thankful to have her and Chandra (who we so missed having with us today) as my friends and I am thankful to have had Jenna in my life, without her I would have been alone these past few years that I have lived in TN.

Thank you Jenna for being my friend and for bringing me into your circle of close friends, you gave me a greater gift than you can ever imagine. I miss you and I love you. I pray everyday that you are at peace and happy in Heaven. Every time it rains Mykenzie swears it is you crying because you are sad and I hope that if she is right, and you are crying, that you are crying tears of joy. Joy, because you look down on those who love you and you see what a mark you made on their lives. That you see how much you have inspired so many people and that you have taught us all to live our lives to the fullest and appreciate every day that we have here and how lucky we all are, even when it seems like everything is going wrong. Kaylee keeps asking to come to your house and see you. She tells me at least every other day that she wants to "go to Jemma's house to play" or "I wanna go see Jemma." Yes she is still calling you Jemma, though I miss the beginning when it was Jemmy! lol I just can't bring myself to try and explain to an almost 3 year old why we can't go, so I just hug her tight and tell her "I know, I want to go see Jemma and play too" We all miss you and think about you always, cause you touched us all and gave us your love. We will forever love you

Light the Night

Jenna's friends here in TN have come together to do the Light the Night walk in memory of Jenna. If you have not heard of it before, Light the Night is an annual walk set up to raise money to find better treatments and cures for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. This holds a very special place in our hearts, especially now and we want to do our part to support the cause and hopefully, one day find a cure to these awful diseases. I am on here to encourage you to participate in a walk near you or to donate today! The Nashville walk will be October 18th. If you would like to sponsor me (please sponsor me!) follow the link below even if it is only $5, every little bit helps take us one step closer to curing these diseases so no one else has to suffer a loss from them. We had been hoping to take this walk this year with Jenna by our side, cured. We had discussed it last year when Jenna was first diagnosed and we all believed that is how it would be. God apparently had another plan for Jenna. Though I think it should have been our way instead, I am trying not to question Him. We will walk on, for Jenna. We will do our part and I hope you will join a group or donate and do your part too. I love you Jenna

Sponsor Jacy in the walk here

Check out our team page here

Read more about Light the Night and find a local chapter near you here

To read more about the wonderful person we are walking in memory of please check here and here

If you would like to order a magazine follow this link and 40% of the sale will go to our teams total for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society

Our front flower beds before and after

So Sore

Yesterday we totally ripped out everything in my front flower beds. They were such a mess! The stuff was so over-grown and for some stupid reason we bought ground cover, well it worked and it covered the ground! LOL It looked awful! So we tore it up. Then we went and bought a bunch of new stuff and got it all planted. Travis is at the store buying new mulch now and then we will be finished with it. In the mean time I feel like I was hit by a truck. My entire body hurts! I have every intention of taking it easy today and just having a lazy day with the kids, well after we spread the mulch that is! lol

Ohio

We left on July 1st to drive to Ohio. Travis flew in ahead of us because he had plans made (that ended up cancelled) so it was Angie (who doesn't have a license), me and the 3 kids. I was expecting the worst with 3 kids but I must say they were so good. We did great till we got lost outside of Columbus. It was thanks to MapQuest not us! they gave us directions to a road that does not exist. Luckily the road that didn't exist took us to a road that we should have been taking, just in the opposite direction. So we got turned around and winged it from there. Thank goodness I grabbed my atlas!!

We got into Canton and I dropped off Angie and Lily at Travis' dads house and headed out to his moms where we stayed. The next day (Monday) I hung out with my sister, and we went and visited my Grammy and then went to my dads and spent the night. We went shopping and to lunch with Aimee and Abby and then headed back to Sharon's (my MIL's). This is when I did a major clean up job on her den and dining room. I did an awesome job if I do say so myself! lol I love organizing things and rearranging. The end results are so awesome!!

On the 4th (Happy Birthday to Me) we hung out with Travis' friends Derek and Tracy and the kids swam in their new pool, rode the 4 wheeler and jumped on the trampoline. We all had a great time. Travis then met up with some other friends and took Mykenzie to see the fireworks with them. I took Kaylee back to my MIL's so she could go to bed cause she was grumpy.

Thursday we headed to Grandpa Tony's (Travis' dad) and spent a couple hours with him with a break in the middle to go to a yummy Italian restaurant with Angie and Lily. Then Travis took me to Rachel's moms and dropped me and the girls off so we could hang out and spend the night. We stayed there till about 6ish looking at scrapbooks and chatting. We went to Rachels fed the kids, played outside and looked at more scrapbooks :) We got up in the morning and went to see Ratatouille, then met my sister and Abby at McDonalds for lunch. We went to Mindy's scrapbook store and then she dropped us off at Cheeseburger in Paradise where we were meeting Travis' family for dinner. Uncle Dan (Travis' brother) was in town from VA and we hadn't seen him in two years so we had a good time and got alot of weird looks from our photo session we held at our table.
Next morning got up and went to Bob Evans (I miss that place) with most of the same people from the night before. Then to Value City and off to my Aunt Shari's house to visit. We got lost for an hour but we FINALLY found the house. It was an adventure for sure. Our last night we turned in early and got up and got going after a few stops at houses where we left crap at. We made it home in record time of 7 1/2 hours, should take 9-10!!! I guess Travis has a bit of a lead foot! lol
We had a good vacation I am glad I got to see some of the people I love. I missed out on seeing Beth and I am sad about that as well as one of my uncles and my grandpa. It is hard to cram so many people into a few short days. Here are the pics from the trip

What else

Even though Jenna's passing has been in the front of my mind for 2 weeks now other things have been going on. I suppose it is time for me to write about those things as well. Angie and Lily came to stay with us for almost 4 weeks through the month of June. We had a lot of fun, alot of kids fighting and crying and made lots of memories. I must say though I do NOT know how people have twins! Holy Crap! Lily is 2 1/2 and Kaylee is just 2 months shy of being 3 (well at the time) and when they got along they were so cute but when they didn't WATCH OUT! Here are some pics from their visit.
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcuWTNo2bNGq8

Rascal Flatts - Stand

Thanks Chickie

So I know this is gonna sound strange but to each his own. I am sitting in my kitchen feeling pretty low. I tried to find a distraction so I started cleaning out the small basket that sits on my counter. Well what do I come across, the birthday card from Jenna that she gave Mykenzie at her party, which was the last time I saw her. Then I find the stack of newspapers that were stacked underneath the basket and on top I see Jenna looking up at me. I got up and walked into the laundry room, clearly time for a new distraction. I was emptying a suitcase into the washer and just broke down. I was sobbing and talking to Jenna, telling her I didn't know how we were gonna get through this and then on the radio came the song "Stand" by Rascal Flatts and seconds later I found a stack of tissues in the suitcase (no clue how they got there) I swear it was her telling me that we would get through this. The song "Stand" had such meaning for her while battling cancer and now I think she was telling me that those words ring true to help us with our grief as well. So thanks for sending me that message Jenna and thanks for the tissues. I miss ya girl.